What amp am I looking for?

JonP

I use Effectrode Tube Drive in front of my Deluxe Reverb (64 Custom HW) which sounds fantastic. 

DarrenBond

Stick with your original quest for the Suhr Hedgehog - awesome amp

Kebabkid

Well, it's been a couple of months and I've been on a bit of a merry-go-round and call myself a Gear Polygamist. I think the understanding gained and expectations of gigging an amp has been lost over covid as I've not gigged and it's made me impulsive and indecisive. That and watching endless gear demos hasn't helped.

A lovely PRS DGT did come in, which took a chunk of money out of my GAS Fund but the DRRI sold as I sought to go down the modeller route.

An FM3 came in, which has now sold due to me being too bloody lazy to invest time in the tweaking, learning curve etc and I've now convinced myself that an amp and pedals is where I'd be happiest.

I'm still looking around to see what's out there but I'm currently lucky to have indefinite use of a Divided by 13 JRT 9/15 head (same as my beloved original amp) and it's more me, sounds good and gives me some reassurance and a strong comparison to base on while looking about.

With that, still on the table and not too much change from before are these - I will audition the PRS MT-15 again and try and find a PRS Sonzera to try as well as a Friedman Runt 20, and the Suhrs PT15 & Hedgehog. The Bluguitar Amp1 Iridium demos (that Studio Rats one is good) also piqued my interest and I heard the Mercury version live the other night and it was very impressive - @kennedydream1980 I will be chatting to you about that.

If you have any experience with the above amps I'm still interested in, please let me know your thoughts and experiences

Thanks and I know, I need a good slap and should sit tight as I don't enjoy this!

EDIT: I just tried the PRS MT-15 again with my pedalboard and guitar through a 1x12 cab and it sounded fantastic. The clean channel, especially with the boost, is very good and chimey and took my pedals really well, especially my overdrives and there was loads of clean headroom and volume on tap.

The lead channel is good and very SLO or 5150 but there's barely any smooth taper on the Master as it goes from whisper quiet to brutally loud and it's hard to get a good volume balance. However, the gain is a lot more manageable and versatile in the early stages than I thought but I would be happy using that clean channel and my pedals and it punches well above a lot more expensive clean amps that I've tried. I think the 6L6s and big transformer in it must help a lot. Very impressed.

russpm

Kebabkid said:

Well, it's been a couple of months and I've been on a bit of a merry-go-round and call myself a Gear Polygamist. I think the understanding gained and expectations of gigging an amp has been lost over covid as I've not gigged and it's made me impulsive and indecisive. That and watching endless gear demos hasn't helped.

A lovely PRS DGT did come in, which took a chunk of money out of my GAS Fund but the DRRI sold as I sought to go down the modeller route.

An FM3 came in, which has now sold due to me being too bloody lazy to invest time in the tweaking, learning curve etc and I've now convinced myself that an amp and pedals is where I'd be happiest.

I'm still looking around to see what's out there but I'm currently lucky to have indefinite use of a Divided by 13 JRT 9/15 head (same as my beloved original amp) and it's more me, sounds good and gives me some reassurance and a strong comparison to base on while looking about.

With that, still on the table and not too much change from before are these - I will audition the PRS MT-15 again and try and find a PRS Sonzera to try as well as a Friedman Runt 20, and the Suhrs PT15 & Hedgehog. The Bluguitar Amp1 Iridium demos (that Studio Rats one is good) also piqued my interest and I heard the Mercury version live the other night and it was very impressive - @kennedydream1980 I will be chatting to you about that.

If you have any experience with the above amps I'm still interested in, please let me know your thoughts and experiences

Thanks and I know, I need a good slap and should sit tight as I don't enjoy this!

I have a Suhr PT15IR and the matching 1x12 speaker you are very welcome to come and try if you are in the North West at any point. 

Kebabkid

russpm said:

I have a Suhr PT15IR and the matching 1x12 speaker you are very welcome to come and try if you are in the North West at any point. 

Thanks Russ and that's very kind of you. Sadly, I'm down south in Surrey but cheers How do you rate it? Do the 3 channels cover all bases equally well?

russpm

Kebabkid said:

russpm said:

I have a Suhr PT15IR and the matching 1x12 speaker you are very welcome to come and try if you are in the North West at any point. 

Thanks Russ and that's very kind of you. Sadly, I'm down south in Surrey but cheers How do you rate it? Do the 3 channels cover all bases equally well?

It's a fabulous amp and if i was gigging then it would be my go to amp for that. It really is extremely versatile and covers lots of ground. As with all Suhr amps it takes pedals really well and the FX loop is spot on. 

firepaulmusic

I can recommend the Bluguitar Amp 1 Mercury. I am currently playing around with this and a Fractal AX8 in 4-CM. Also in the mix is a Two Notes Captor X which gives the most satisfying headphones/direct experience ever…

Kebabkid

@firepaulmusic ;;I just need to get to Andertons to try the BluGuitar units and I'm favouring the Iridium as I can turn off the internal cabs plus it might be more me. Glad it's working well for you.

NelsonP

@Kebabkid ;;;

Just read this thread. Rang a lot of bells. My 'ideal' amp would have 3 channels, as you describe.

Currently my main amp is a DSL20CR, with a Greenback in it. It only has 2 channels. Clean channel is a bit spiky, and the gain channel has a bit too much gain, but you can dial it in to sound pretty decent. I often wonder if a 2525c or one of the Friedman 20 watters would be better. Or maybe a DSL40C.

I've also got a Mesa .50 cal. The big brother of the studio 22. I love the cleans on it, gain channel is perhaps a little too compressed. Master volume is very on/off, in that it goes instantly from nothing to too loud for home use.

I keep thinking that maybe if I just got the right boost pedal....

My pedalboard has some similarities with yours too.


Definitely intrigued to hear where you get to.

Maybe all I need is my Mesa and a Boss TAE?

Kebabkid

NelsonP said:

@Kebabkid ;;;

Just read this thread. Rang a lot of bells. My 'ideal' amp would have 3 channels, as you describe.

Currently my main amp is a DSL20CR, with a Greenback in it. It only has 2 channels. Clean channel is a bit spiky, and the gain channel has a bit too much gain, but you can dial it in to sound pretty decent. I often wonder if a 2525c or one of the Friedman 20 watters would be better. Or maybe a DSL40C.

I've also got a Mesa .50 cal. The big brother of the studio 22. I love the cleans on it, gain channel is perhaps a little too compressed. Master volume is very on/off, in that it goes instantly from nothing to too loud for home use.

I keep thinking that maybe if I just got the right boost pedal....

My pedalboard has some similarities with yours too.


Definitely intrigued to hear where you get to.

Maybe all I need is my Mesa and a Boss TAE?

Cheers and there are some similarities. Indeed my first proper, grown up amp was a Mesa Boogie Studio 22 and I loved it. I've had a few Mesa's and they got progressively harder to dial in the gain and I ended up using my board/overdrives into the clean channel which I was always pleased with.

Anyway, something came in today and that's the PRS MT-15 head and I've just been playing it for the past few hours and I'm very happy.

Glorious cleans and takes my pedals so well, especially my older version OCD. Now, I thought I end up doing what I've always done and stay on the clean channel as I thought the lead channel would be too brutal but with the gain at 9-10 o'clock, it's fantastic and like a smoother 5150 that cleans up well and covers the classic rock territory.

Let's see if it stays but for £499, the amp came with a full cover bag, footswitch and 2 spare JJ Valves and it has a 5 yr guarantee.

NelsonP

Ooh. Nice. Congrats on the new amp!

It's so weird this. I played through my DSL earlier and thought it sounded like arse. Just played through it again and it sounded great. I'd had a beer in between, mind.

I do have a modeller as well. But amps sounded better don't they?

CaseOfAce

What the OP originally described is in my view what most cover band players are searching for.
Fender cleans / Marshall crunch with a lead channel for solos. The golden fleece. And down the gear rabbit goal we go. (and don't forget about a clean solo lead tone as well - you don't want a Malmsteen solo sound in the middle of a country and western solo break).

Personally I've never found channel switchers work that well for me and have come round to thinking a clean platform with pedals does the job - which is pretty much back to square one for the OP (sorry...!).
However I'm still experimenting with lead boosts... to me stepping on a pedal doesn't seem as natural as just rolling up the volume control... hmmm...

There's a reason Eric Johnson hauls around all that rig (Twins / Marshalls, tube drivers, echoplexes yada yada). But in the real world who wants to schlep all that about...?

so in answer to the OPs question - save your money, you have the gear already. 
(Terms and conditions apply / this is my opinion alone!).
I completely understand this is not the answer you are seeking...but ...!

Kebabkid

@CaseOfAce Function bands is what I did for many years and so you're spot on and I got that from a good clean amp and pedal platform and varying degrees of gain from different pedals. The Gigrig Quartermaster has helped with some basic switching and flip-flopping options. However, I'm not really back to Square One as I think you may have missed my post this evening and I've found a 2 Channel amp in the PRS MT-15 that works well and also take's pedals very well, too.

This leads me to what I think is the poor promotion of some gear and selling them short and I've seen it with signature amps. Ok, the MT-15 does the Tremonti thing but you've got to search hard on YT to find someone using one outside that genre of heavy music and that's a shame because people could be missing a trick and not seeing that it's capable of so much more. It can do funk, indie, classic rock, too.

I found the same with the Fender Hot Rod George Benson amp. By association, one might think this was 'a Jazzer's amp' but IMHO, this has the best clean channel of all the Hot Rod amps. It's more chimey and 3-D. Ok, the Overdrive channel was the standard and not improved HRD one, but wasn't too bad. If it was promoted in a different way, showing off its versatility, it might've reached a wider audience and been a better seller.

Anyway, I'm hoping this amp is going to stay for me and it's married up with a Mesa Boogie Mini Recto Slant 1x12 and first day findings have put a smile on my face.